In the SPACE URC, research in the area of autonomous control will be
conducted in connection with guidance and control of UAVs,
spacecraft formation flying, and aircraft formation
flying.

Research Activity: Formation Flying

NASA is interested in space missions to perform reconnaissance,
interferometry, passive radiometry, virtual co-observing, stereo
imaging, and terrain mapping using versatile, low-cost, and highly
capable spacecraft in appropriate formations. Each spacecraft is
controlled to accomplish the shared mission
objectives. Issues such as collision avoidance and flight-path
tracking in the presence of possible uncertainties and failures make
designing the flight control system for each spacecraft very
challenging. The proposed research activity will focus on the use of
intelligent control techniques for formation flying. Adaptive,
robust, neural, and nonlinear control techniques are candidates for
dealing with large uncertainties and possible failures. Stability
issues on the local and group level will be investigated.

Research Activity: Control of Uninhabited Air Vehicles (UAVs)

Uninhabited air vehicles (UAV)
are of great interest to NASA. For example, NASA is currently
exploring the application of UAV research on
weather and storm detection and real-time
monitoring and control of UAV science payload and data. UAVs
are free of the constraints imposed by the presence of the human
pilot, but because of that they pose new control challenges.
The sensors on board must emulate the human pilots' sensing
capabilities, and the control system has to deal with both normal
and unpredictable situations. The proposed activity will address all
aspects of UAV development: Mission Specifications and Configuration
Design; Aerodynamic and Structural Analyses; Fabrication of Airframe
and Material Processing; Integration of Propulsion; Navigation and
Control Systems; and Fight Tests and Sustained Operation

During the past three years, the UAV research team at the SPACE URC has developed two
unique UAVs powered by hydrogen fuel
cells. The CSULA FC-1 (Fig. 1a) was one of the first fuel cell-UAVs
in the world which demonstrated a fully controlled flight on August
26, 2006. The CSULA/OSU Pterosoar (Fig. 1b) was developed in
collaboration with Oklahoma State University, and on September 12,
2007 set a world record of 80 miles in range for UAVs weighing less
than 5 kg. This UAV is expected to set another record of over 16
hours in endurance in summer 2008. These UAV can be either
radio-controlled by ground pilots or flown autonomously with a
GPS-autopilot system on board.

Building on these
successes, the research team proposes to continue the development of
high-performance UAV projects, such as: Improvement of fuel cell-UAVs
to challenge new records in range, endurance and altitude; Vertical
take-off and landing UAV development; Development of hybrid fuel
cell Â– solar cell propulsion systems for UAVs; High speed UAVs
powered by advanced jet propulsion systems; Utilization of bio-fuel
propulsion systems for UAVs; and Autonomous formation flight control
of multiple UAVs.

These multidisciplinary projects will
offer new challenges in the research areas of aerodynamics,
materials, structure, propulsion/combustion systems and control
algorithms, hence requiring enhanced collaboration among all
research groups of the URC.